Fiction is about telling a good story, first and foremost. But of course, everything I'm interested in or angry about leaks into my writing, from art to violence against women.

Lauren Beukes

I did a lot of research on real serial killers, and they're not Hannibal Lecters. They're cruel men who are given the opportunity to do something terrible, and a lot of the time it's about impotence. They feel powerless in the real world.

Lauren Beukes

What I love about collaborating is that you're working with other minds that work differently to yours.

Lauren Beukes

Being a journalist, being exposed to the world, to social injustice, to intolerance, growing up here, under apartheid, benefitting from that, has all shaped who I am and what my passions are, and of course that's going to come through in my writing.

Lauren Beukes

It's hard to get justice in the real world. It's possible in fiction.

Lauren Beukes

Twitter is amazing. I advertised for the position of research assistant on Twitter, and both of my researchers came from there.

Lauren Beukes

I've seen so many screw-ups of representations of South Africa, and it makes me so angry every time.

Lauren Beukes

I moved to New York for love, and it was a disaster, in 2000. And then I had American friends who had lived in South Africa, and they were in Chicago. They said, 'Come and spend some time with us, and we'll help you get over it.'